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HOW TO Zoom in to/out from a cell phone? ADVICE

J

John Russell Schmidt

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Looking for advice for a shot that takes us out from an image on a cell phone and pulls back wider to a shot of a room. At the start, we need to be within the borders of the phone, potentially held vertically, yikes!

The image will be a comp of other video shot along side so the greenscreen element isn't my concern. It's really a matter of wether or not there is a zoom lens with a close focus/angle of view that can get me as close as possible and widen out to something like a 25mm.

I'd like to be able to get as far into the phone practically but assume some post zoom will be necessary. Diopters are out I believe as I'll have to eventually focus further than possible. A friend suggested a 24-290 with a +2 but thinks far focus is around 5'. Where could I find the far focus distance on such?

I was thinking the PMZ might do the trick and finish the zoom in post but I'm afraid 50mm at 15 inches isn't close enough even after zooming in to 720 in post on an epic. Going to call panavision tomorrow but anyone know off-hand of any other zoom that offers the same with a longer range or mid range?

Any thoughts? It this type of shot ALWAYS transitioned with VFX help or do the physics allow it practically?
 
Does this have to be a PL mount lens?

The reason I ask, is there are a few wide-angle macro lenses out there, but as far as I know, they're only available as stills lenses. I think there's even a 15mm ultra-wide macro out there, but I've never played with it. With a wide-angle macro, pulling off the shot might just be a simple dolly back from the phone, racking focus to the wide shot of the room (if I'm reading your shot description correctly) .
 
Go as close as you can to the phone. Then dolly back and pull focus... Rather difficult move so moco is your best option. Sharp is key so rather be on a bit higher Fstop then lower. Then remember you got 6k so you do not need to be all the way into a frame where you got mobile glass only in shot as that last bit can be post zoomed into. Doing it that way will also make the shot easer for the VFX guys to track.

Preferably you have a blue or green screen frame on the phone and also small a few pixels sized dots in a square formation in the middle & half size of the screen. Then thy can key and also get the light and the reflections form the screen.
 
Thanks Nathaniel for the response, I suppose a PL lens isn't necessary but I feel like a 15mm might be too wide in the opening frame on the phone. Have you seen any examples of this shot. I'll look into stills lenses but feel like the focus might be an issue.
 
Bjorn thanks for taking the time. The VFX tips are a good thought. I'll probably have to consider moco for this. Any idea of a lens situation that might work for such a shot?

Björn Benckert said:
Go as close as you can to the phone. Then dolly back and pull focus... Rather difficult move so moco is your best option. Sharp is key so rather be on a bit higher Fstop then lower. Then remember you got 6k so you do not need to be all the way into a frame where you got mobile glass only in shot as that last bit can be post zoomed into. Doing it that way will also make the shot easer for the VFX guys to track.

Preferably you have a blue or green screen frame on the phone and also small a few pixels sized dots in a square formation in the middle & half size of the screen. Then thy can key and also get the light and the reflections form the screen.
Click to expand...
 
The 24-290mm can get very tight without a diopter at minimal focus, so I'd try that.

Trouble with a macro prime is just that a wide-angle macro, even if the lens is practically touching the phone, won't be that tight of a frame, and a normal to long macro makes it hard to dolly back far enough to get a wide shot. Maybe if you think you can get back wide enough with a 50mm lens, you could try a macro.
 
Infinity focus with a +2 diopter would be 1/2 meter, or about 20". The 12:1 Optimo has a close focus of 5' without diopters.

I would think you could do this as 2 shots and stitch them together in post. Use a long telephoto zoom to pull back from inside the screen to see the whole device. Then use a medium range zoom with good close focus to do a combined zoom/dolly move out from a tight close up of the device to your wide shot. You could probably pull this off with just the 12:1 Optimo and diopters, just stop down past T4 to avoid the ramping at the long end of the zoom. Moco is definitely a good idea if you can afford it.
 
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